Tien Len
BGG rank
BGG #11,601
BGG rating
6.8

Tien Len

Powered by BGG

Rules assistance for Tien Len

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 20 min
  • 10+
  • Complexity 1.9/5

Rules assistant for Tien Len

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

Tien Len is a board game for 2–8 players, 20 minutes per game, and ages 10 and up. Its main mechanics are Hand Management and Ladder Climbing.

Similar games

About the game

Tien Len can be considered the national card game of Vietnam; the name of the game, means Go Forward. Probably as a result of the Vietnam war, Tien Len has spread to some parts of the USA, and sometimes it is also called Thirteen. Tien Len is a climbing game (like Zheng Shangou, Big Two, Tichu, Gang of Four, or President) in which the aim is to get rid of your cards as soon as possible by beating combinations of cards played by the other players. Its distinctive feature among those games is the use of various pair-runs like 2-2-3-3-4-4 to trump single and pairs of 2s. The game is for four players. A standard 52 card deck is used. There are no Jokers and no wild cards. The ranking of the cards is: Two (highest), Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three (lowest). Within each rank there is also an order of suits: Hearts (highest), Diamonds, Clubs, Spades (lowest). Among climbing games, Tien Len's most distinctive feature is its unique mechanic for "bombing" the high deuces: a 3-finger run (e.g. 445566) trumps a single 2; a 4-finger run (e.g. 44556677) trumps a pair of 2's; a 5-finger run trumps a trio of 2's; and a 6-finger run beats a quad of 2s.

Categories

Publishers

  • (Public Domain)

Questions and answers

Tien Len supports 2–8 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.